


Places we won't walk

by yyeddeong



Category: ITZY (Band)
Genre: Break Up, F/F, Heavy Angst, Homophobic Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:42:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26078164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yyeddeong/pseuds/yyeddeong
Summary: A one-shot au wherein love isn't enough reason for one to stay.
Relationships: Hwang Yeji/Shin Ryujin
Kudos: 11





	Places we won't walk

**Author's Note:**

> Please listen to Bruno Major’s Places we won’t walk (same as the title) to give you more feels hehe! Happy reading although this is angst-y.

Today was the day Ryujin had been waiting for. And so, under the blossoming trees of spring, the younger one asks, "Yeddeong, I have been dying to ask you this, but would you be my girlfriend? Like officially my--" She was immediately cut off by a peck on her lips.

"Oh my god, Ryu! Yes, it's a yes!" Her voice was filled with so much joy. Ryujin engulfs the taller lady in a hug, burying her face on the crook of Yeji's neck.

The two were in their peak happiness because, after all the years of secretly yearning for each other, they have finally officially got together.

Four months have passed and the pair has never been stronger. No arguments bigger than which restaurant they should eat at or what movie genre they should watch: action or romance. It was all great, and they have never been happier, too.

"My parents want to meet you, Yej." Silence followed after. The older one had always avoided this topic. 

Meeting the parents.

"Don't you think it's still too early for them to be meeting me?" Yeji asked as she looked everywhere else except the pink-haired lady's eyes. "You've been saying that since God knows when Yeji." An exasperated sigh escaped her lips.

"Ryujin," she calls. "Yeah, I'm sorry. It's just that I don't have any more excuses to say." 

"Fine, let's go tomorrow." Yeji flashes a small smile towards the younger one, holding her free hand. "I love you."

The dinner went as planned. Yeji met Ryujin's parents who were very much fond of her, not like how she expected it to be. 

She felt welcomed and accepted.

"If ever Ryujin does anything dumb, don't hesitate to tell me, Yeji. I will be the one who'll beat her right away." Ryujin's father jokes, gleaming at the tall brunette who was seated across him. "Dad!" Peals of laughter resonated throughout the whole dining area as the Shins decided to make the most out of Yeji's stay.

"When will I meet your dad?" The pink-haired lady queried with so much conviction. "I'm more than ready to meet Mr. Hwang-- or do I say, Papa Hwang?"

Yeji felt her body cold with the suddenness. It felt as if blood had been drained out of her body with her skin pale. "Hey, Yeddeong? Are you alright?"

The brunette nodded in agreement, walking ahead of the younger one towards Ryujin's black sedan. "Did I do anything wrong?" She worries, her gaze shifting towards Yeji from time to time. "Nothing." The younger one heaves a sigh with the bland response. 

It was too blatant that there was something off.

"Yeddeong, I've known you for years, a decade even, so please don't even try lying to me." 

A sigh escaped her lips, "It's just that papa had never approved of our relationship, and I don't think he'll like the idea of me bringing you home." A pang of despondency hit her just right. "I-I thought he knew about us."

"No," she whispers. "I denied our relationship, and told him we're just friends." Another stab in the heart for the pink-haired lass. "I'm sorry, Ryu."

"I understand," she smiles warmly at the older one, rubbing Yeji's thigh as she drives. 

But behind that smile was Ryujin's worries and blues.

A year had gone by and the couple was as staunch as their day one. With them going to dates now and then, Yeji dropping by to eat dinner with the Shins, Ryujin attending her dance competitions and celebrating her Yeddeong's wins together-- It was all perfect.

Not until Yeji's father finds out about their relationship. Hurtful words and the heartbreaking feeling of rejection never left her head for the rest of the night.

"You don't deserve to be called my daughter. You are only ruining our family name, Yeji," Her father hissed, exhaling profusely through his mouth as he loosened his tie. 

"Papa, I'm sorry. I will be better--"

"Better? After hiding your sinful relationship from me? You will do better?" His voice was now a tone higher. His visage screamed enraged.

"I-I will, but I just love Ryujin." The sound of his palm coming into contact with her cheek resonated throughout Yeji's room. 

"Don't even consider calling me your father." His voice appeared to be emotionless as he stopped walking in front of the door that was left ajar.

Yeji silently sobbed, nodding extensively even if he doesn't see her. "Not until you break whatever you have with that girl," he emphasizes his last words before finally leaving the lady alone. 

She has never felt so alone.

The brunette had wept for days, disregarding all of her friends' calls. As well as Ryujin's. She didn't want to upset her by letting her know about the situation. Yeji was too scared of what's going to happen. She didn't want to cut all ties off with Ryujin.

Not her Ryuddaeng who had always been there for her. The person who had helped her become the person she is today. Her Ryuddaeng who disregarded all her flaws and imperfections because of her profound love for her.

The days that she had been distant had soon grown more. It turned into weeks, months of suddenly fading from Ryujin's life.

Like what she had promised her father, she cut all ties.

Ryujin was now so restless. She didn't know what had happened, why Yeji had suddenly disappeared without any trace. How their house is now abandoned. How she dropped out of their university amidst Yeji being a graduating student. How she also cut all ties off with their friends.

She didn't know where to start. The eight months Yeji was away was hell for her. Nothing could be worse than what she's going through, she thought. Her pillar and world had suddenly vanished.

A quick peck on her forehead, nose, and lips. "Good night, my Yeddeong!" The pink-haired lady shouted from her car window, watching the brunette walk along their front yard.

As she drove away, the lights turned on even when Yeji was still wandering on the front porch. Her father was there all along, but Ryujin had failed to notice this.

“I never even got the chance to say I love her.”

She had done everything to take the pain away. She couldn’t start anew. Not when Yeji isn’t by her side. The last person she believed would desert her.

Even her parents noticed the sudden shift in Ryujin's ambiance albeit her not telling them anything. It was painted all over her countenance.

This wasn't the same person as the daughter they had months ago. This Ryujin neglected her studies, had started engaging with vices she used to hate, and most especially how she never wore a smile anymore. 

Ever since Yeji had gone away.

A year had finally passed, but still no Yeji on sight. Ryujin had eventually quit her studies to just throw her life by partying and drinking all her grief away. 

She was currently at the same bar where she had laid her eyes at Yeji the first time.

A wave of sentimental yearning crashed over her.

She still recalls how she walked up to Yeji whose visage was so gloomy that night.

"Just noticed how you've been staring at that bottle for over an hour now." She approaches the lass who was seated at a bar stool. "Why do you care? Let me be."

"Here, try this." The younger one pushed a shot glass towards Yeji as she spoke. "I don't drink." 

"That explains the unfinished beer," she settles down the vacant stool beside the brunette. 

"What's with the face by the way?" She queries, slugging down a shot of burning alcohol. "I was supposed to see this guy I met on Tinder," Yeji starts, playing with the empty shot glass in front of her.

Ryujin snickers at the response, "I'm guessing he had to attend to a family emergency?" The latter looks at the younger lady with shock. "How did you know? Have you experienced the same thing?"

"Men aren't shit, you know?" She speaks, shifting on her seat to face the lady. Yeji kept her silence as she listened to the shorter gal speak. "Yeah, fuck them, honestly. They're so flaky. And you know what? I'm too pretty for him anyway." A jovial laugh erupted from the pink-haired lady's mouth.

"It's Ryujin by the way."

"Yeji, Hwang Yeji," she formally introduces, bringing out her hand to shake hands with the latter. "Shake hands? That's so formal of you! I would've preferred something else," Ryujin reluctantly accepts the offer and chuckles at the sight of the brunette getting flustered at the remark.

"Were you just hitting on me, Ms. Ryujin?" She scoffs. "I just got stood up." The latter rolls her eyes at the statement like it was the most absurd thing she has heard.

"So what? Stop acting like it's the end of the world when you're still here. Just take this."

"You know what? You're right." Yeji snatches the shot glass from the younger one, drinking the contents all at once. "Now, that's what I'm saying!"

Memories of the past seemed like it was just yesterday. She still remembers how Yeji's eyes glistened when they talked about a band they both adore so much. How the brunette would wince every time the intoxicating liquid would come in contact with her mouth.

These little things hurt her.

Ryujin occupied the same stool she occupied the first time they met, but now, without Yeji by her side.

So, to her surprise, the same familiar figure she has been thinking of appeared right before her eyes. The same set of brown orbs she has been yearning for connected with her gaze, although now, she exudes a different aura. 

"Why am I seeing her here?" She rubbed her eyes to make her vision clearer, but the figure didn’t vanish like what she did a year back. Yeji was still standing in front of her, "Hey."

"Yeji," her voice was filled with so many emotions. All the sentiments she has kept, all the misery she hid to herself were now showing. She was so frail and dainty.

"I thought I'd find you here."

"How are you?" She casually asks the puzzled lady as nothing had happened. Not as if she left her crumbling. "I-I missed you," she uttered these words softly as tears started to well in her eyes.

“I missed you too, Ryujin.” A pang of desolation hit the shorter blonde.

She never called me by my first name, she thought.

Yeji softly smiled before pulling a taller figure beside her, "This is Hyunjin." Ryujin's heightened hopes were all crushed with the appearance of the man. She has never felt so betrayed. 

"Ah, Ryujin," her voice appeared to be cold and distant. "It's nice meeting you, Ryujin." He only received a grunt in return.

“Since when did you return?” Her words tasted bitter, eyeing the pair in front of her. “A week ago. I was sent to the states.”

Ryujin only nodded in response even when her head was filled with so many questions and thoughts. She was silent, but her mind was too loud, it was beseeching for answers.

But Ryujin chose to stay silent.

“Yeji, Ryujin, I’ll just go to the restroom.” And the two were left alone. 

“Ryujin, about what happened—“

The younger one raises a finger up to silence Yeji, “It’s fine. You don’t have to explain. You, disappearing, without saying anything is enough explanation.” 

“I’m sorry.” Another wave of grief crashed over Ryujin. Everything was just overwhelming. From Yeji’s sudden appearance to the man she brought, and up to her apologizing— all at one night was too much.

“I think we have no business here anymore, Yeji,” Ryujin blankly speaks. She doesn’t know what was pushing her to say so when in reality, she was dying to hear her reasons and explanations.

“Hyunjin’s here, I’m leaving now. Enjoy, Yeji.” The sound of her name being spoken by the love of her life broke her. It wasn’t the same as before, bringing butterflies to her stomach whenever she heeds of it.

Hyunjin heaves a sigh, "Are you happy now, Yeji?" The latter shuts her eyes close, catching her breath. The blonde shook her head.

"This is what I wanted, but why am I not happy, Hyunjin?"

“No, you didn’t want this to happen. You want her back, but your father is a bitch.”

“I wanted this to happen, too. I want her to be free. Free from me,” she starts to sob. 

“I’ve hurt her too much already, Jin,” she continued to weep, clutching onto her cousin’s now damp shirt.

“If you two are really meant to be, fate will make its own way.” Yeji’s grasp was weakening. She felt so broken.

“I love her, Jin. I really do. I still do.”


End file.
